Asteroid Crisis

by Kevin J. Anderson

  “Lifchez, please prepare the module,” Bronsky ordered. “Do as she says. Cadet King and I will join you there. She has us at a disadvantage.”

  “Good, I hoped you would be reasonable.” Mira sounded relieved and a bit smug. “You won’t be diverting the asteroid, but I’ll give you a chance to get away. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “Nothing but the extinction of humanity,” King said, with bitterness in his tone. He was breathing heavily, trying to control his frustration.

  “That’s not how I see it,” Mira said.

  Switching off his helmet microphone and nodding for Bronsky to do the same, King pressed his faceplate against the other man’s. Even without the helmet speakers, the simple contact of faceplate against faceplate was enough to transmit sound waves. King shouted, “I’ve got a plan. She doesn’t know exactly what we’re doing—we can surprise her from the module.”

  “Very well, Cadet.” Bronsky’s voice sounded muffled.

  They turned their radios back on, and as the ominous alien vessel prowled back and forth like a vicious guard dog, King and Bronsky used their MMUs to propel themselves back to the module.

  King tried to keep Mira talking. “If you’ve been watching, then you know that two of the asteroids were successfully diverted already, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “The asteroids are a symbolic gesture, anyway,” Mira said. “The governments of Earth have to see how powerful the Kylarn are. Mentor Toowun says the three asteroids were just meant to be a threat, that the Kylarn would stop them at the last minute and prevent damage to the planet, if we agreed to surrender and cooperate. Why would they harm Earth if they want it themselves?”

  “They’re aliens, Mira!” King snapped as they reached the airlock hatch of the mission module. “How can you even pretend to guess what they think?”

  “What I think is that one asteroid should be enough. If it actually hits Earth, it’ll cause damage—one of the greatest displays of power that humanity has ever seen—but it should be enough to ensure that our race surrenders. If people think they have a chance, and they insist on fighting back, then Kylarn retribution will be even worse.”

  “Oh? Worse than hammering populated areas with an asteroid?”

  Mira’s voice rose, filled with more urgency. “We don’t know that they’ll really let the asteroid hit. Mentor Toowun has already made an overture. He gave me a message for them offering our cooperation and appealing for mercy. After I’ve made a gesture of good faith by preventing your efforts here, I’ll deliver that communication to the Kylarn. They’ve got to understand.”

  “Good luck with that,” King muttered.

  Bronsky said over the open channel as they closed the airlock door behind them. “There’s nothing we can do, Cadet. We have less than five hours before the automatic detonation. We have no way to change it.”

  After the airlock had sealed and repressurized, King and Bronsky turned off the suit radios and removed their helmets. “Now, Cadet, you’d better tell me what you have in mind.”

  “We want to do this on our terms,” King explained. “The timing isn’t as critical as we let Mira believe. She copied information from the ISSC, but all she has is the rendezvous coordinates and the date of arrival. Even I didn’t know the exact details of how we would use the bombs until we assessed the asteroids—nobody could.”

  They entered the module, where Lifchez was very agitated. “What were you talking about on the open channel? Did you really set an automatic countdown? That’s not how we planned to trigger the nukes.”

  “I bought us time,” King said. “Mira thinks she’s got almost five hours.”

  In a gruff voice, Bronsky used the module’s comm to talk to Mira. “How can you guarantee our safety? What do you intend to do?”

  “I’ll use the Kylarn weapons to destroy the warheads and prevent the nuclear explosions from happening.”

  King was surprised. “If she blasts the warheads, won’t they explode anyway?”

  Lifchez spoke, a level of urgency carrying the words. “A nuclear explosion is an extremely complex process, requiring dozens of very precise actions, operated within millisecond timing before the core can release the energy in an atomic explosion. If that girl shoots at the nuclear devices, she’ll destroy them, but there won’t be an atomic explosion.”

  Bronsky powered up the module’s spacedrive engines, and the large cylinder began to creep away from the broken asteroid.

  Suspicious, Mira followed them in the alien ship. “If you try anything, I can still shoot your module.”

  “What could we possibly try—we have no weapons?” Lifchez said in exasperation.

  King drifted close to Bronsky, made sure the comm system was switched off. “Once we get on the far side of the asteroid, we’ll be safe from the nuclear explosion, right?”

  Bronsky’s eyes lit up. “Yes, the bulk of the asteroid will protect us, but we will move far enough away that we’ll have time to dodge if any of the pieces head toward us.”

  Lifchez looked delighted now. “I can get us to a good position within minutes! We can detonate the warheads from there.”

  “Exactly,” King said with a sharp grin. “Whenever we want to.”

  Surprised to see that they were cooperating after all, Mira twirled the starfish ship, trailing the mission module. King gave Mira one last chance, hoping that she would change her mind. “I wish you would reconsider. It’s not too late to do the right thing.”

  “This is the right thing,” she said. “I’m going to save the human race. Why don’t you join me in my cause?”

  “I can’t, Mira,” King said, rubbing his eyes in weary frustration. “Siding with the aliens isn’t safe for you, and it won’t help humanity. The Kylarn will slaughter us. Please—do not do this.”

  Without further comment, Mira moved the alien ship away.

  Bronsky looked at the others for confirmation.

  “Now’s as good a time as any.” King’s voice caught in his throat. He clenched his hands and nodded.

  Bronsky activated the controls and triggered the three warheads—just as Mira’s ship circled back toward the asteroid.

  With a bright flash, the atomic bombs detonated like three instant sunrises on the opposite sides of the broken asteroid components. The flares lit up the starry field, rising above the uneven horizon of the broken rocks.

  The edge of the detonation clipped Mira’s starfish ship, which had just circled high above, and the flood of energy made the alien vessel tumble crazily. The communication channel filled with static. King felt his heart sinking. If her ship was damaged, he didn’t see how Mira could survive … but she had made her choice.

  Lifchez maneuvered the module away from a tumbling piece of rock.

  King let out a long sigh. “It wasn’t quite like we planned it, but we knocked those asteroids spinning, and the pieces should go in different directions now.”

  “Now we must wait, to see if our explosions diverted the asteroids enough to prevent them from bombarding Earth after all,” Bronsky said.

  ***

  Eighteen

  All that remained now was the long journey back to Earth and the ISSC. Cooped up with Colonel Fox and Dr. Kloor aboard the first module, JJ drew a deep breath of stale recycled air. She felt hope now, a sense of satisfaction at having completed a difficult job. Dyl and Song-Ye had also reported success from Asteroid Mission 2.

  “It’s all in the hands of physics now,” Tony said. “We took our shot, and the billiards balls are rolling on the table at their own speed. Newton’s Laws of Motion in action.”

  They had all been shocked to hear about Mira’s unexpected arrival at the third asteroid, threatening King and the mission. Nobody knew if the girl—their enemy—had survived the unplanned detonations. JJ felt sorry for her, but Mira was completely opposed to the Star Challengers’ mission. The other girl wasn’t likely to give up, but neither were JJ and her companions. After hearing Comman
der Zota’s horrific stories, JJ was determined not to let that dark future happen.

  “We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Colonel Fox. “There’s a good chance we saved Earth from the impacts, despite the difficulties on Mission 3.” The British officer’s face became serious; his mustache drooped as he frowned. “Even so, we know the Kylarn still have their base on the Moon, as well as even more extensive operations in the asteroid belt. This war is far from over.”

  “One battle at a time,” JJ said. “We’ve accomplished something here. Let’s take a breath and get ready for the next challenge.”

  “Speaking of taking a breath, we shouldn’t stay in your module any longer,” Tony said. “We’re using your air reserves.” He pressed a hand to his stomach, which gurgled loudly on cue. “And I’m hungry enough to eat some of those prepackaged meals.”

  JJ recovered the small pinger device. As promised, Ansari had placed one aboard each of the three mission modules so that Commander Zota could find them, despite the uncertainties of time travel. “Sorry we can’t stay with you for the entire trip back to the ISSC.”

  “You’re not missing much,” Kloor quipped. He held up his datapad. “I’m reviewing the mechanical engineering of combustion and reading through months of unfiled daily logs. I’d take a short-cut too, if I could.”

  They said their farewells. By now the asteroid they had diverted was far away, a bright glint against the surrounding stars. “We’ll probably see you at the space station,” Tony said. “I think we’ll come back one more time.”

  “We’ll be there, cadets,” Colonel Fox said.

  JJ hovered beside Tony, leaning against him. “Just to make sure,” she said, and activated the pinger.

  When the five Star Challengers returned to the Challenger Center from their respective missions, they stood breathless, filled with excitement, recounting what they had done.

  “I’ve never seen a blast like that,” Dyl said. “Millions of tons of TNT have got to be enough to change the orbit.”

  “You saw the assessment,” Song-Ye said. “We made an impact. The course changed.”

  King was somber. “I wish Mira hadn’t made things harder.”

  JJ said, “That wasn’t our choice.”

  “Do you think the mission will be all right, Commander Zota?” Dyl asked. “It was a long way back to the station, and if Mira attacked them with her starfish ship—or if any angry squidbutts wanted to get revenge—the modules couldn’t have defended themselves.”

  “I don’t think Mira’s bloodthirsty,” King said. “If she attacked the modules after they deflected the asteroids, what would that accomplish? The orbits are already changed.”

  “Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t try some other mischief?” JJ grumbled. “And she did say that she hoped to deliver her message from Mentor Toowun directly to the Kylarn.”

  “I don’t think it’s safe to throw a victory party just yet,” Song-Ye said.

  JJ looked up at Commander Zota. “The most logical way to find out for certain whether we succeeded is to go there.” She held up the pinger device that had brought them back from the asteroid mission. “We know when the asteroids are due to hit—or miss—Earth. We’d like to go forward and see for ourselves.”

  “Very well, Cadet Wren.” Commander Zota allowed himself an uncharacteristic smile. “That is absolutely the best way to find your answers.”

  ***

  Nineteen

  From their perspective, the Star Challengers had left the asteroid mission modules less than an hour earlier, but more than six months had passed aboard the ISSC. When they arrived, the station personnel were abuzz with excitement, busy with so many duties that even the mysterious appearance of the five young people didn’t create much of a stir.

  “I’m definitely getting used to this,” Dyl said, letting go of the handholds on the wall and doing a slow spin in zero gravity. “Whoever thought that traveling to a space station would start to feel normal?”

  Dyl nearly smacked into JJ, who was floating nearby. “I might be getting used to it, but it’s not really normal for me, yet,” JJ said.

  “Nothing about you is normal,” Dyl teased.

  “It’s better than normal!” Tony used a heel to push himself from the wall, tumbling through the air in a series of somersaults that would have made any earth-bound gymnast envious.

  King took the lead. “Come on! Let’s get an update on what’s been going on.” As they emerged from the node room into the next module, they recognized Lifchez who hovered in front of a monitor screen. When he looked up at them, his grin seemed almost distracted. “Look who’s back, just in time for the excitement.”

  “Good excitement or bad excitement?” Dyl asked.

  “That remains to be seen, but you’ll have a front-row seat to watch the second asteroid slip past Earth.”

  “Second asteroid?” Song-Ye asked, startled. “Did we miss the first one?”

  “More accurately, the first one missed us.” Lifchez touched the screen and displayed time-lapse images. “Last week, Asteroid 1 crossed Earth’s orbit.” They watched a sparkling light moving against the backdrop of the frozen stars. The streak sailed along, brightening and then dimming as it moved farther away.

  “Looks like it missed us by a mile,” JJ said.

  “Oh, much more than a mile,” Lifchez said. “More than a million kilometers, in fact. Still a squeaker in astronomical terms, but once your team set off the nukes, it was a foregone conclusion. Asteroid 2 is expected to pass much closer. Earth is on high alert.”

  “When will we know for sure?” Song-Ye asked. “How close will it come?”

  Lifchez showed a projection of Asteroid 2. A green line described its original orbit in the asteroid belt; a red line showed the dangerous orbit after the Kylarn had sent it plunging toward Earth, and a blue line showed the new path that had changed since the nuclear warheads had nudged it. “The orbit still deviates slightly, so it’s impossible to make an exact prediction.”

  “But once we deflected it, how could the orbit change again?” King asked. “Isn’t it just simple orbital mechanics from that point?”

  “Normally, yes, but an asteroid has pockets of frozen ice and gases that evaporate as it approaches the sun. That violent evaporation is like popcorn popping, bumping the asteroid a little bit this way and that. Unfortunately, in our case, a little bit could make the difference between a catastrophic impact and a sigh of relief.”

  “I vote for the sigh of relief,” Dyl said.

  JJ elbowed her brother. “We’ll bear that in mind, whenever asteroids decide to become democracies.”

  “Let’s go to Central,” King said. “I want to check in with Stationmaster Ansari. Did all three missions return safely?”

  “Oh, yes,” Lifchez said. “You know the way to Central?”

  “We’re familiar enough with it by now,” JJ said with a smile.

  Song-Ye grabbed Dyl’s arm. “Come on, Junior.” They set off toward the Central Command Module.

  Ansari and Fox were both there to greet them. “We hoped you would arrive in time to observe one of the close approaches.”

  “Sorry we missed the first one,” JJ said. “I understand the second asteroid is going to come much closer.”

  “A little too close for comfort,” Ansari said.

  They learned that all three asteroid mission modules had limped back to the ISSC using the last of the fuel in their plasma spacedrives. Over the past few months, the modules had been reconnected to the ISSC, returning the station to its former capacity. During the previous half-year, Mira hadn’t harassed the modules with her starfish ship—in fact, she hadn’t shown herself at all.

  “Five hours remaining before closest approach,” Ansari said. “Not long enough for you to relax and get settled in, I’m afraid.”

  “Pfft. We’re not here to relax,” Song-Ye said.

  Dr. d’Almeida’s long-range telescopes in the observatory module were trained on the appr
oaching asteroid. At the highest magnification, they could see a grainy, blurry blob, an oblong, cratered shape.

  “I’d recognize that space potato anywhere,” Dyl said.

  Colonel Fox contacted Earth for the latest update and spoke to Lt Colonel Rodgers. “Everything’s on standby, sir,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got ten nuclear missiles ready as a last resort, although this close, it would be hard to deflect that oncoming rock. A bomb could just as easily shatter it, and then Earth would be bombarded by multiple impacts.”

  “It’s going to miss,” JJ said in a tight whisper—more wishful thinking than certainty.

  For the next few hours, they watched the asteroid draw closer and closer as planet Earth continued along its orbit, seemingly unaware of the approaching danger. JJ couldn’t help thinking of how Dyl had been innocently riding his bike, not seeing the oncoming car that had smashed into him.…

  Pi made new calculations every five minutes, although little changed. “It’s going to be very close.”

  “We need to do something,” Dyl said.

  “Easy, cadet,” Fox said quietly.

  Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the monitor.

  “What are you going to do?” Song-Ye asked, not bothering to hide her own nerves.

  “Nothing yet,” Ansari whispered.

  “Nuke it!” Tony blurted out. Everyone in central looked at him. His face turned red. “Sorry. I know the risks of doing that. Sorry,” he whispered.

  The Star Challengers and the crewmembers in Central refocused on the asteroid. It was getting closer.

  Closer.

  They all held their breath. The asteroid passed Earth like a giant lumbering oil tanker drifting past an island. On the orbital diagrams, the two lines crossed with almost no room to spare, and Earth’s gravity pulled the asteroid enough to disturb its orbit even further, but the tumbling cratered rock sailed onward in its elongated path around the sun.

  JJ let out a shuddering sigh of relief. Perspiration filmed her forehead. She didn’t know how long she’d been holding her breath. “It looks like we did it.”

  “Never had a doubt,” Dyl said. “Didn’t break a sweat.”